I was walking through my favorite used book store and I came across a book by Chris Ayers called "The Daily Zoo". Chris, who worked as a concept artist for the Hollywood film industry, was diagnosed with leukemia. On the one year anniversary of his diagnosis, he started a sketch book. Every day he would draw an animal. This exercise was a challenge in his self-discipline and imagination. His most important goal was to celebrate everyday. All these sketches came together into this amazing book.
This is an artist that makes me, once again, bow my head, hand in my artist card and say, "I am not worthy". Chris' talent is unbelievable! The animals are fun, some are serious. Some are quite simple while others have amazing shading and details. However, they all bespeak of his talent.
Chris explains in the book that one way he comes up with ideas is to do a scribble. He studies the scribble to see what his mind sees in the shapes. I did this exercise in the above sketch. You can see in the lower right hand side my scribble. I got lucky on my first attempt in that I could see a perfect, queenly seal in the scribble shape. Now, my talent is quite Junior high compared to Chris but I enjoy the exercise and the shot to my creative flow.
Chris' book is worth buying. His comments on how his illness changed his life are so interesting. The inspirations for the art are fun as well. The art itself is complete entertainment. As a quote on the back cover of book 2 says," ...it inspires us all to crank up our creativity."
Posts
